When Economists Don't Debate
My wife was kind enough to point out this great letter in today's NY Times Magazine. Permit me to quote it in full:
"In Andrew Goldman’s interview of Larry Summers, my colleague Joseph Stiglitz is cited for saying Summers ignores arguments that he doesn’t like. I have disagreed with Summers on several issues, but I have always found him ready to debate my views, even at Columbia, when, on the celebration of my 75th birthday, he took on me, Paul Krugman and others. He shies away from shoddy arguments that are simply populist, not from debating serious differences with critics his own size. By contrast, I have never succeeded in getting a debate, on or off campus, between Stiglitz and myself."
JAGDISH BHAGWATI,
Professor of Economics and Law, Columbia University, e-mail
Now, Ed Glaeser has argued that cities facilitate interaction and thus cause new ideas to be born and accelerate economic progress. Columbia University (my home from 1993 to 2000) like any other leading University is an "intellectual city". What aren't such production interactions between leading economists there taking place?
The Miami Heat has proved that a Dream Team can enjoy synergies and work together for common goals. Can the Columbia "Dream Team" of Sachs, Stiglitz, and Bhagwati enjoy similar group success as Wade, James and Bosh?
"In Andrew Goldman’s interview of Larry Summers, my colleague Joseph Stiglitz is cited for saying Summers ignores arguments that he doesn’t like. I have disagreed with Summers on several issues, but I have always found him ready to debate my views, even at Columbia, when, on the celebration of my 75th birthday, he took on me, Paul Krugman and others. He shies away from shoddy arguments that are simply populist, not from debating serious differences with critics his own size. By contrast, I have never succeeded in getting a debate, on or off campus, between Stiglitz and myself."
JAGDISH BHAGWATI,
Professor of Economics and Law, Columbia University, e-mail
Now, Ed Glaeser has argued that cities facilitate interaction and thus cause new ideas to be born and accelerate economic progress. Columbia University (my home from 1993 to 2000) like any other leading University is an "intellectual city". What aren't such production interactions between leading economists there taking place?
The Miami Heat has proved that a Dream Team can enjoy synergies and work together for common goals. Can the Columbia "Dream Team" of Sachs, Stiglitz, and Bhagwati enjoy similar group success as Wade, James and Bosh?
posted by Matthew E. Kahn at 2:54 PM
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